Until recently innovation has been
seen principally as the means to turn research results into
commercially successful products, but not all research leads to
innovation and not all innovation is research-based. Certainly
research is a major contributor to innovation, generating a flow
of technical ideas and continually renewing the pool of
technical skills. It should be a vital ingredient in your
enterprise strategy, particularly over long term, if you are to
maintain a stream of competitive products on the market.

Important though research is as the
source of invention, innovation encompasses more than the
successful application of research results. Innovation can also
stem from adopting new technologies or processes from other
fields, or from new ways of doing business, or from new ways of
marketing products and services. The evolution of the innovation
concept  from the linear model having R&D as the starting point
to the systemic model in which innovation arises from complex
interactions between individuals, organizations and their
operating environments  demonstrates that your innovation
policies and practices must extend their focus beyond the link
with research.

Hard vs. Soft
Innovation

Hard Innovation is organized
R&D characterized by strategic investment in innovation, be
it high-risk-high-return radical innovation or
low-risk-low-return incremental innovation.

Soft Innovation is the clever,
insightful, useful ideas that just anyone in the
organization can think up.

Case in Point:
Lessons from Jack Welch

At GE, the sum is greater than its
parts as both business and people diversity is utilized
synergistically in a most effective way. "Practice systems
thinking and holistic approaches," advised Jack Welch. Seek to
improve and optimize the totality of your business rather than
the profits of its components. "Everything about this enterprise
is doing more with less. It needs rejuvenation all the time.
Quality is the next in the learning process. Getting rid of
layer. Getting rid of fat. Involving everyone. All that was to
get more ideas. The whole thing here is to create a learning
organization."

Start with
Yourself

To lead innovation successfully you
should start with yourself. A characteristic of CEOs in stagnant
companies (often referred to as the "living dead") is that they
ask their people to be entrepreneurial, to innovate and grow but
do not do so themselves.

If people see that the boss is a
"know-it-all," at the very best they'll be motivated to learn
all the boss knows.

If the boss has a rich sense of
curiosity that openly questions the impact of not only his
actions but those of others, the business and competitors, than
others will learn from this and do like wise.

Visionary Purpose
and Goals

Leading innovation requires a
visionary purpose and goals. Make sure you keep stretch in your
vision, communicate it constantly, and keep linking the events
of today to your vision, underscoring the relationship between
the two. The constant tension between today's reality and your
goals is what spurs extraordinary innovation... Emphasizing the
importance of today's work keeps people focused, while linking
it to the vision keeps them motivated. This communication should
be enduring as each encounter people have with the firm's vision
unveils another element of connection.

Establishing Purpose, Direction
and Goals: Leaders Tasks

Christopher Meyer, the author of
Relentless Innovation, lists the following tasks of a
corporate innovation leader.